Friday, January 13, 2017

Pascal Larocque, a waiter at a high-end Montréal restaurant, knows what it means to love—and he knows what it means to lose. He buried the man he expected to spend his life with years ago. He’s perfectly happy with his solitude, or so he tells his friends. But a chance encounter in a neighborhood bar followed by a run-in at his apartment building turns his world upside down.

Mathias Perras is twenty-four, newly arrived in Montréal, and works two jobs so he can live on rue Sainte-Catherine in the heart of the gay district. During the day, he’s on a fast track to management at the Banque de Montréal. At night, he waits tables at a gay bar down the street. He’s burning the candle at both ends, but it will be worth it when his career takes off and he has the life he’s always dreamed of. When he meets Pascal, one more piece of that dream slots into place. Pascal is everything he wants in a lover: older, self-assured, established in his life and his career. But Pascal doesn’t look at him twice. What’s a boy have to do to get a little action?Buy links: Dreamspinner | AmazonCat gives this one 4 Meows with a 2 Purr heat index...

Pascal is a waiter at a fancy restaurant. He has been most of his life. He also lost his lover several years back but still mourns.

Mathias is a young man that knows what he wants and has the plan to get there. He works at a bank during the day on an advancement program and a bar at night. He does this to live in a lovely apartment in a nice neighborhood, so it looks good on his resume. But all the work is wearing him out. He meets Pascal one night at the bar.and is smitten.His boss has a rule about picking up the clients. Fate intervenes, and he meets him again in their building. But will Pascal overcome his doubts and the age difference between them?

I like this book on many levels. First of all The May.December (older man?Younger man) trope is one of my all time favorites. I also love broken men and Pascal is so sad. I rooted for him to find love again. I liked that they did not rush into anything and that each man at one time or other tried to move the relationship on. I also liked that Mathias, even though he was small and twinkish was unyielding, probably the stronger of the two. And the kicker was the writer ladies that were friends of Pascals. Not to forget I love picturesque settings, and this is in Canada with a very French feeling.

The one issue that held me back from a five was somehow I got a feeling this was part of a series. I was a bit lost when the characters discussed Robert; Pascal's deceased lover, like I should know more about that. I also felt like I should have known Adrien the owner of the bar Mathias worked in and Simon, the manager of the restaurant Pascal worked. I did go back and read the blurb to the first book in this series, but it didn't allude to any of these people.

But having said that; I did enjoy the relationship between Pascal and Mathias. I would like stories for Simon, Adrien, Rene and Benjamin.

If you like waiters, bartenders, bankers, broken men, May/December, second chance at love, and some sweet romantic scenes, this is for you!

Excerpt...

The server shrugged and nodded before leaving the table.

“When pigs fly,” René repeated.

“Fuck off,” Pascal said with no real heat in his voice. “There’s nothing wrong with having a favorite drink.”

“Nothing wrong at all,” René agreed, “but there’s also nothing wrong with trying something new from time to time. You’re stuck in a rut, and that’s not healthy.”

“Are we still talking about my choice of drinks, or was there something else you wanted to say?”

“We’re not talking about anything,” René said, “because you’re old before you’re even fifty, set in your ways and not even open to the possibility that life might have something good in store for you still. It’s been fifteen years since Robert died. He wouldn’t want you to grieve forever.”

“It’s not about Robert,” Pascal insisted. “I’m comfortable with my life the way it is.”

“Yes, I’m sure you are,” René said, “but you aren’t happy.”

“And you think screwing around with some twink in a bar restroom will make me happy?” Pascal asked. “How many friends have we lost to exactly that mistake?”

“That was a different time and a different mindset,” René reminded him. “We’re all a little smarter now.”

“Or a lot more cautious,” Pascal replied. “Look, I know you mean well, but that isn’t what I want. Just… just let me go to hell in my own way, okay?”

René looked like he was about to argue, but whatever he might have said was forestalled by Benjamin’s arrival. “Bonsoir, les gars.”

“Bonsoir,” René and Pascal replied, switching to French now that Benjamin had joined them. While all three of them were bilingual, Benjamin’s English was much weaker than his French, so Pascal and René both automatically spoke French when Benjamin was with them.

“Anything interesting happening tonight?” Benjamin asked as he took a seat at their table.

“Adrien has a new waiter,” René said. “Cute, blondish, all tousled. Looks like he’d bend over for the first guy to show a little interest.”

“Are you interested?” Benjamin asked, waggling his eyebrows teasingly at René. Pascal had long since given up trying to understand their relationship.

“No, Pascal saw him first.”

“Oh, Pascal’s interested? Now there’s a nice switch!”

“I’m not interested,” Pascal said with a long-suffering sigh. “I told René that. He’s not listening, as usual.”

“Maybe if you said something new, I’d be more inclined to pay attention,” René retorted. “As it is, it’s the same old martyr Pascal as always.” He fixed Pascal with a piercing stare. “It’s getting old, buddy. Really old.”

Pascal frowned. He’d come out despite wanting to stay home purely because his friends had asked him to, and now they were insulting him. He pulled enough cash from his wallet to cover his bill and tossed it on the table. “If you’re going to be like that, I’ll go home and read the book that’s waiting for me. It’ll be better company.”

Pascal looked back and forth between his two friends. Benjamin’s expression was pleading, but René’s had taken on the mulish look it got when he had a bug up his ass. “I’m sure he doesn’t, but I’m not fit company tonight. Maybe later this week.”

“You’ll be at work the rest of the week,” René muttered.

“Then I’ll see you at the gym,” Pascal replied. It would be easy to sit back down, but if he did that, René would take it as tacit approval to continue their previous line of conversation, something Pascal was determined to avoid.

Benjamin started to say something else, but René shook his head. “Let him go. If he wants to be like that, we can’t stop him.”

Pascal almost gave in at that. These were his best friends, the men who had supported him through Robert’s illness and death, who had stood with him at a rainy cemetery as he had said his last good-byes to the man he’d thought he would spend his life with. He hated to have discord between them, but he wasn’t ready for what René was suggesting. He didn’t know if he’d ever be ready for it, and hearing his friend harp on it only made it worse.

“I’m sorry,” he said before turning toward the door.

He passed the server on his way out. “Leaving already? It’s early, and I still haven’t convinced you to try a new drink!”

“Another time,” Pascal said. “I’m not in the mood for company tonight.”

“Too bad. I’ll have to wait for another time to draw you out.”

That was almost enough to make Pascal consider changing bars, but even he had limits on how much he would let his past control his present. “I’ll look forward to it.”

Not wanting any more conversation, he brushed past the waiter and headed home.

Real characters, raw emotion, an authentic journey to love

When Ariel Tachna was twelve years old, she discovered two things: the French language and romance novels. Those two loves have defined her ever since. By the time she finished high school, she’d written four novels, none of which anyone would want to read now, featuring a young woman who was—you guessed it—bilingual. That girl was everything Ariel wanted to be at age twelve and wasn’t.

She now lives on the outskirts of Houston with her husband (who also speaks French), her kids (who understand French even when they’re too lazy to speak it back), and their two dogs (who steadfastly refuse to answer any French commands).

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Thanks for the good review and the book sounds interesting. First off, I'm in a May/Dec marriage, and I've liked Tachna's service series and the Montreal setting. - Purple ReaderTheWrote [at] aol [dot] com

Be sure to leave a comment to be entered into the TTC Books and more monthly comment giveaway. EVERY comment that is relevant to the specific post will be entered. Prizes include various gift cards and swag donated by Publishers, Authors and blog Owner. REMEMBER TO LEAVE YOUR CONTACT INFO! How else will I notify you if you win?